Sellouts

I’ve spent a good majority of the day on Pandora, the online radio for those of you who don’t know, and I was struck by how many people leave comments on artist pages calling them sellouts just because they became mainstream. Now, this goes for practically every media creator. Actors, authors, directors, singers. They all start out small somewhere.

Then, and this is what kills me, when they become popular or famous, whatever you want to call it, almost all of their original, self-proclaimed hardcore fans are offended. How dare the rest of the populous know about my artist! They’re mine! I found them! How could you, artist?! I will admit, I feel that sting when someone I’ve known and love steps out into the masses but I realize something. Nothing has changed.. their fanbase just grew. And I get the right to tell people I’ve been behind that artist for however many years before they were huge! Not to mention, I’ve been telling people to watch/listen/visit my artist for years, so it’s partially my fault they’re big news now. You see that, I promoted an artist to stardom all by myself!
-End Hypothetical-

Somewhere in that paragraph is how people really act and how they should act. Unless you’re artist drastically changed what they did just to become famous, then you have the right to bitch. The truth is, the artist had a choice either way and you should respect their choices. It all comes down to whether you like an artist as a person or you just like what they do. If the latter then there are plenty of other underground artists you can turn to and instead of insulting the artist in comments, recommend said other artists.

This would be a much better world to live in (aka internet) if people would stop being ass holes just because they are “anonymous”. I understand the usefulness of destructive criticisms but nine times out of ten, it’s pointless. Thus ends my rant. Take care!